Ask Jupiter — Editorial Strategy vs. Content Strategy vs. Social Media Strategy: What's the Difference?
Everyone is talking about editorial content... but what does that mean?
We are departing from the usual Ask Jupiter format today because I’ve been formulating a new thesis on the work Jupiter Content Co. does1 and I’ve had what feels like one trillion conversations about the editorial age in marketing.
So no tradish advice column but I want to use this space to talk about the difference between an editorial strategy vs content strategy vs social media strategy.
WTF is the difference between editorial, content, and social media strategy…
Instead of pitting these three queens against each other, you can think of them as nesting dolls 🪆2
The biggest doll, the one that houses all the others is editorial strategy (with content inside and social inside of that). Whatever you end up doing with your content and on social is ultimately a part of your editorial strategy.
Editorial Strategy aka the What
First, let’s define editorial. If you, too, watched 13 going on 30 at a pivotal age and wanted to work at a chic magazine, you likely think of editorial as a publication thing.3
Mid-aughts references aside, your editorial stances are the what. Whether you’re an artist collective, a service provider, or the CEO of an HVAC empire, you have something to say — about the work you do, about your industry, about your methods.
In the marketing world, I like to think of your editorial positioning as the rules of the world your brand builds.
Putting this into practice, my editorial law of gravity is that marginalized people deserve to take up space online, despite what white nationalist 4chan users have to say.4
If Sam from LinkedIn, working at Fortune 500 company, pontificating about what his divorce taught him about B2B sales gets to share his every waking thought… why the hell should you, deeply weird, probably gay business owner not?
I believe in taking up space SO very much that I named my whole business after everybody’s favorite big ass planet: Jupiter. Editorial strategy come to life!
In the marketing world, I like to think of your editorial positioning as the rules of the world your brand builds.
Content Strategy aka the Why and How
Content Strategy is how your editorial strategy comes to life and why you — and by extension, your audience — care.
How do you tell the story of your editorial positioning? What is the best and most effective way to share the song you have in your heart?
This could be your podcast, email, or the Sunday paper’s classified ads.5 You could tell the story via personal anecdote or research paper.
Instead of sending an email that says “hire us to fix your air conditioner,” you can send a semi-annual reminder to folks to switch out their AC filter. In the body copy, you can explain that, as the CEO of an HVAC empire, you believe in the regular maintenance of AC units to save money in the long term.6
Social Media Strategy aka the Who, When, Where
Social media strategy focuses on who/when/where, taking your editorial + content strategy and leveraging it on a social platform for a specific audience, optimizing content based on the nuances and mechanisms of your social of choice.
If your ideal client (or community member) is a thoughtful young person who wants to escape the labyrinth of the Meta algorithm, you’re not going to find them by posting on Facebook.7
Your social media strategy focuses on the logistics, asking:
Where are your people at?
What is the optimal way to reach them via that platform?
How can you engage in the platform in a way that speaks to your people but also honors your ethics?
What the conventional marketing world gets wrong about social media strategy
If you have a business account on IG, you probably get targeted ads about “social media coaches” or “how to sell on IG.” Unfortunately, parasitic MLMs have jumped from industry to industry and as coaching has become old hat, “strategy” seems to be the new victim.
Even in the industry, “social media strategy” can be shorthand for a million different things. Post frequency, using trending audios, sharing personality posts every Wednesday. I would argue these options are more so techniques than they are anything else.
The biggest piece I see missing in traditional social media strategy is “why and to what end?”
You’re sharing a personality post but why?
To build brand awareness? To deepen your client relationships? To get your engagement rates up (pictures of you will always do the best on IG, I am so sorry)
Editorial strategy asks where are you going? How are you going to get there? How can you create things that support that?
Editorial strategy charts the map of your brand. Always pointing you in the right direction.
So much so that when some schmuck announces a new social media platform, instead of spiraling about whether or not to make an account and what to post, you can hold up your map and determine if it’s the right fit.
How Jupiter Content Co went from social media strategist → editorial strategist
KP, you have called yourself a social media strategist for years! Why change now? - you, right now, probably.
Truthfully, I’ve been an editorial strategist all along but social media strategy is an easy thing to sell people on.
Most business owners I meet feel deep angst about social media and get stuck on it as the sole marketing channel. Simple equation: you press firmly on an existential pain point (social media sucks!), you make more sales.
Because of the current SM industry discourse, smart, capable business owners regularly reach out to me and say, “I’m working on dancing reels. What trending audios should I use?” or “I think I can post 5x week if I just skip lunch every other day. What should I post?” I try my best to hold in a slow-motion “noooooooo” and not say, “who the hell told you that?”
I am first and foremost a witch who cares about intention. Like internet-aside, life is so much more juicy and delicious with intention!8
Why should intention not also apply to our online work as well?
While I could shill blanket social strategy advice for a quick buck, it literally goes against everything I believe in. Why would I tell you to dance using a trending audio if (1) you hate it and (2) it has nothing to do with your business/goals?? Like we have one wild and precious life, please do not spend it trapped in the prison of “shoulds.”
okay, stepping down from the soap box now
Whether we are building out a 9-grid or planning content for Q2, my clients and I always start with the what.9
We sketch out your what and then explore the storytelling component. How can we tell it most effectively? Why? And to what end??
I firmly believe to build a long-lasting digital presence (or a body of work), you cannot employ flash-in-the-pan techniques praying for the algorithm gods to smile upon you. When you build your brand on the ever-changing terrain of whatever Adam Mosseri10 says is important this week, you will always be scrambling for the next big thing. With an editorial strategy, you’re creating a foundation that says, “here’s what I do, this is why it matters, and I deserve to be compensated accordingly.”
We see this with influencers all the time. Their accounts blow up, they ride the wave of success, and then the digital landscape changes. Most folks fade into oblivion or attempt find new purchase.11
The folks that last, avoiding the spike into obscurity, are the ones with something to say! We’ve seen content creators go from shitposting videos to full-fledged, mainstream careers because of their editorial positioning.12
With an editorial strategy, you’re creating a foundation that says, “here’s what I do, this is why it matters, and I deserve to be compensated accordingly.”
What time is it? Nuance o’clock!
Did I just spend this entire piece talking about the importance of an editorial strategy? Yes! Am I about to contradict myself? Also yes!
This is the only time I’m going to be prescriptive so get out your pharmacology notes! Procrastinating perfectionists, I’m looking at you!
You have to keep making things, even if your strategy is not set.
I am a Pisces I KNOW you have a song and a dream in your heart, bitch 💗13
Start making work around that and the strategy part can come in as you put your work out into the world.
PLUS, your strategy can even be “fuck it, we ball.” I just ask you did it with intention, even if the intention is to “have fun” and “make friends”
Author’s Note: I wrote a whole back half of this piece talking about the Rube Goldberg machine of marketing and the gospel of using social media as a TOOL vs your only marketing option but the word count was… a lot. LMK if you want to learn more
If you have made it this far, I have a gift for u 🤲 🎁
why I’ve also been lowkenuinely radio silent
Did NOT realize there was a nesting doll emoji?? She’s so chic! Adding to my emoji rotation STAT
Or maybe you marathoned America’s Next Top Model every. single. sick day and you agree that Jade was more of an editorial girlie than commercial.
This also extends to my IRL value that we all deserve to take up space… no more shrinking
if you’re placing classified ads, would love to talk!!! u are so cool!
I know most of u homos probably do not run an HVAC empire BUT the nesting doll editorial strategy can apply to every kind of digital presence
Now Substack on the other hand…
dw, the intention can be fun and fresh (like laughing with the homies or eating a tasty meal)
my enemy
This is why your faves suddenly become right wing grifters. They need the money and the right is willing to pay!
my GOAT Drew Afualo is the perfect example
said with LOVE
literally laughed out loud at “I think I can post 5x week if I just skip lunch every other day” bc NOT TOO MUCH 😅
Can’t wait for more nuance